Bingo games can be played using electronic gaming machines. These gaming machines are loaded and made ready for play by electronically transferring data representing a set of bingo games from a sales terminal to the electronic gaming machine. Once these machines are loaded, they allow bingo players to play several bingo games at one time. Each bingo game has a set of game cards that are electronically daubed when a player entered number matches a number on a bingo game card.
Bingo players often decide to switch between bingo games during play. If the player decides to switch to a new game, the player must re-enter all the numbers entered in the previous game for the numbers to be daubed onto the new game. Since the current bingo machines do not allow a mechanism for carrying numbers as the player switches games, re-entering numbers becomes very laborious and time consuming. This process is also inefficient as a player risks missing entering a number currently being called and thus risks not winning.
Bingo games are subject to state laws and regulations that are carried out by gaming commissions. One of the regulations requires a gaming official to be able to review all the keystrokes entered by a bingo player during play. A problem with the current gaming machines is that they do not provide an easy method of logging keystrokes or displaying the keystrokes to a gaming official in a quick and efficient manner.
Thus, there is a need for an electronic bingo machine that maneuvers between bingo games in an efficient manner, so to retain entered numbers from one bingo game for use in another bingo game, and that logs, transfers and displays every keystroke in a quick and efficient manner